AN- So the request for this oneshot sort of stemmed off of the ending for another one of my fics, After the Break, where Sam and Freddie wind up getting engaged the summer after the graduate from college and go on a road trip together. The request was for me to make a oneshot with the proposal and the road trip. I started to do that, but I really didn't like how it was coming along, so I decided to tweak it a little bit.
Hope you all enjoy!
….
Trust
Sam sat on an old wooden swing in a small, empty park in the middle of nowhere, lazily tracing circles in the sand with her sneaker. The sun was beginning to set, and soon it would be dark. She hoped she'd be out of here by then. As brave as Samantha Puckett may act, she wasn't crazy about the idea of spending the night in a secluded park surrounded by the woods. It was just…creepy.
Thankfully, a few seconds later she heard footsteps behind her and she turned around to see Freddie walking towards her.
"Well, one of my mom's worst fears just came true," Freddie sighed.
"What? You peeing in the woods?" Sam smirked. "Is she afraid you're going to get tick bites all over your-"
"Ha, ha," Freddie said dryly. "So you ready to go?"
"In a little bit," Sam replied, scooting over on the swing seat to make room for her boyfriend. "Come sit with me. The sun's just about to set."
"You want to watch a sunset?" Freddie smiled, sitting down next to her. "Wow, what has this road trip done to you?"
"Watch it, Benson," Sam said, thumping the back of his head.
The couple was currently on day fifteen of their cross-country road trip. Fresh out of high school, Sam and Freddie decided they wanted to do something they'd remember their last summer before heading in different directions. In just a couple of months, Freddie would be starting school at MIT while Sam would be starting at Washington State with Carly.
It had been Freddie's idea to go on the road trip. He wasn't looking forward to suddenly being thousands of miles away from his girlfriend, who he loved more than anybody in the world, in the Fall, so he wanted to spend as much time as he could with her.
And what better way to do so than spending days on end stuck in the same car together as they toured the country?
Sam, though just as saddened by the fact that her and Freddie wouldn't be attending the same university, or even living in the same state, was reluctant to agree to go on the road trip. It wasn't because she didn't want to spend time with Freddie; she definitely wanted that. She just wasn't sure she could tolerate having to see all the boring landmarks, national parks and museums that Freddie would undoubtedly want to stop at.
Yet here they were, day fifteen and about halfway through the trip and Sam had to admit it; she was having the best time. Sure, Freddie insisted on stopping off at Yellowstone National Park, but he also found a place where you could watch live alligator wrestling (though he did have to talk Sam out of trying it out for herself). They had been to countless small-town diners which Sam had deemed absolutely amazing, and Freddie had even driven forty miles off his pre-planned route so Sam could see the world's largest French toast stick that they had seen advertised along the road.
She almost didn't want to ever go back home.
"Where are we, by the way?" Sam asked. She had dozed off a few hours earlier, and had only woken up when Freddie pulled up at this spot, claiming his bladder could no longer wait until they reached the next service plaza.
"About halfway through New Mexico," Freddie replied. "I was thinking we could stop off at this cactus nursery tomorrow morning."
"Cactuses are cool," Sam nodded. "I have a thing for dangerous plants."
"Cacti."
"What?"
"Cacti," Freddie repeated. "The plural of 'cactus' is 'cacti'."
"Dude, I graduated from high school," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Which means I'm done with this whole 'learning' thing."
"Yeah, I'm sure you won't find any of that in college," Freddie chuckled, putting his arm around her as he looked up at the sky. "Wow…the sun's really starting to set."
"I know, it's beautiful, isn't it?" Sam said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Freddie smiled, staring down at her. "It sure it…"
He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers. Sam wasted no time in responding, and for several minutes, the couple simply sat there, intertwined, enjoying the feel of each other's lips.
When they pulled apart, the two sat in silence for a moment.
"Are you having a good time on this trip?" Freddie asked. "I-I know road trips aren't exactly your thing, but-"
"I've loved it," Sam said. "Baby…this trip has been incredible. Which is really surprising because it had all the potential to be totally lame."
Freddie laughed. "You mean that?"
Sam nodded. "I can't think of anybody else who I'd want to spend a whole month with in a car looking at boring chiz with." She looked down at her feet. "I wish it didn't have to end, though."
Freddie's face dropped. "Yeah," he said heavily.
"It just sucks," Sam sighed. "I hate that we're literally going to be one two opposite sides of the country."
"I know, it's going to be hard," Freddie said. "But-"
"Hey, what's going to happen to us?" Sam blurted out.
Freddie frowned. "What-What do you mean?"
"I-I don't know," Sam mumbled. "Never mind."
"No, baby, what is it?"
"I mean…I get that this trip is supposed to be for us to spend all this time together before we leave," Sam said. "And I'm so glad that we did this. But-But what if it's not enough. What if-What if when we get back and you go to MIT and I go to Washington State and we're so far apart and we-and we still…"
She didn't want to even finish her sentence.
"Sam, that's not going to happen," Freddie said gently. "I love you."
"I love you too," Sam said. "But-I dunno, you hear about how things change in college all the time. People go in there thinking they can handle a long distance relationship but then you meet someone new…"
"Do you really think that's going to happen?" Freddie asked quietly.
Sam bit the corner of her lip, and then slowly shook her head.
"No," she said. "No, I-I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm even brining this up."
"Don't be sorry," Freddie said. "It-It's probably good for us to talk about these things. But just know…there's no way I'd ever fall for any other girl that's not you. I love you. This past year of us dating has been…unbelievable. Just know that."
"I do," Sam said. "And-And it's not that I don't trust you to not do anything while you're at MIT. I do. But…jeez, this is just gonna be really tough."
"We're going to get through it," Freddie said.
Sam gave him a small smile. "Yeah…you're probably right. Look, I'm just being stupid. This whole sunset thing just made me all weird and emotional." She got to her feet. "Come on, let's go back to the car. We can find a place to sleep at and then in the morning we can go see those cacti."
She turned to start heading off to the car, but before she could, Freddie took her wrist.
"Sam," he said. "Listen. I know you're scared about us going off in two different directions soon. I mean it terrifies me. But it's going to happen, and there are probably going to be times when we miss each other so much that it feels like this distance thing just won't work out. But-But we just have to remember that no matter how hard things get while we're away from each other…it's all going to be worth it in the end."
He pulled Sam back down onto his lap.
"That's why I really wanted us to go on this trip," Freddie continued. "That way when we're apart soon…we can remember this trip and all the good memories from it."
"This trip is going to be sort of hard to forget," Sam chuckled. "Especially back when we were in Wyoming and you got chased by that armadillo at that truck stop."
"Hey, that wasn't nearly as bad as when were still in Washington and you thought we saw Tom Cruise, but it was really just some hobo," Freddie smirked. "You asked for his autograph and everything before you realized."
"At least I didn't almost get beat up by an eighty year-old woman in Vegas for taking too long on her favorite slot machine," Sam pointed out, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Man…we really do have a lot of good memories from this trip."
"We do," Freddie agreed. He suddenly looked down at the sand. "Maybe we can add one more, though."
He motioned for Sam to get up off his lap and then he pulled himself to his feet.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, confused.
"You know I really can't imagine my life without you. When I think about my future…you're always there. I know we're not going to be at the same schools next year but-but that's not going to make us love each other any less. Even if we were going to be on different countries, or different planets for that matter, it wouldn't take away from what we have."
"Different planets, huh?" Sam smirked. "That better be a hypothetical situation because I'm not ready to live off of powdered food."
"Still," Freddie went on, taking a deep breath. "I've been thinking about this a lot lately…basically ever since I got my acceptance into MIT. And-And I just wanted some way to prove to you that no matter what…we'd always stay as strong of a couple as we've always been."
He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, opening it up to reveal a small, sparkling ring.
Sam's eyes grew wide. "Is that-Is that an engagement ring?"
"Sort of," Freddie said. "It's a promise ring. You give it to someone who you know you'll eventually give an engagement ring to. Sam, I know we're both only eighteen, but like I said before, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"I want to spend the rest of my life with you too," Sam whispered.
"But I also know that right now, I need to be at MIT and you need to be at Washington State," Freddie said. "But that's not going to be the case forever. When we both finish school we'll be able to move back together and find jobs together and start our lives together. We're not ready to be married right now but one day we're going to be. This ring is for you to have as a reminder of our love."
Sam wiped the corners of her eyes. "I don't need to be reminded. Freddie."
"Still," Freddie smiled. "Samantha Puckett? Would you do me the honor of accepting this ring just so there will always be an actual, physical representation of our love?"
Blushing furiously, Sam nodded. She held out her hand and Freddie slipped the ring onto her finger.
"Wow," Sam whispered, staring down at the ring. "It's perfect." She looked back up at Freddie. "We're really going to be okay when we get back, aren't we?"
Freddie nodded. "Hey, it's gonna take a lot more than two thousand miles to break us up."
He pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately. After a few moments, the couple pulled apart.
"Um, not to kill the mood," Freddie said. "But now that the sun's gone, it's starting to get a little creepy out here. Let's head back to the car. The town we're staying at is only a few minutes away. We can get some dinner and play some mini-golf. It can be our first kind-of-engaged-but-not-technically activity."
"Aw, how romantic," Sam grinned. "And this can be the first time I beat you at mini golf as my almost-fiancé."
"That's okay…I'm going to have to start getting used to it, aren't I?" Freddie laughed, taking her hand. "But seriously, let's get out of here. I think I saw another armadillo…"
